Menopause: From Estrogen Washing to Social Silence, with Dr Aisling Quiery & Rati Roberta Riccardi
Release Date: 11/13/2025
Menopause: From Estrogen Washing to Social Silence, with Dr Aisling Quiery & Rati Roberta Riccardi
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. In this conversation, our guests forge a link between childhood trauma and the severity of menopausal symptoms. Aisling, a GP who is herself experiencing perimenopause, notes that the menopausal women who consult her often carry immense stress from being "sandwiched" between their peak career responsibilities and caring for children, grandchildren and aging parents. Together Aisling and Rati contrast: - "Estrogen Washing" a term Aisling coined to suggest that HRT often serves as a "wash" which may offer temporary relief but is...
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Menopause: From Multitasking Queen to Second Girlhood, with Dr Priya Duggal and Rosio Fuentes
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard Join us for this wide ranging conversation between a Menopausal Naturopathic doctor and a Therapist who lives with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome while mothering a neurodivergent family and experiencing Menopause. Together, Rosie and Priya address the many physiological, emotional and practical implications of Menopause "tipping points" for women’s health. They highlight that: - Living an inauthentic life (always "doing" for others) can create physical symptoms, likewise addiction patterns may emerge or intensify if unmet...
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Menopause Pruning: Clearing Space for Authenticity, with Inés Zabalaga & Kate Hazlitt, ND
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard This conversation moves from the medicalization of menopause to reclaiming it as a natural process; an important, transformative life stage marked by growth, development, and renewal, not an illness or pathology. Kate and Inés advocate for shifting from symptom management to trusting the body's innate capacity and involving the entire community in understanding this transition. Inés and Kate highlight:: - Brain Pruning which "chops away" old ways of thinking and being, making way for authenticity, new identity, and a...
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Unveiling Indian Cultural Trauma, with Mansi Poddar
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. This conversation exposes the impact of cultural trauma on Indian mental and emotional well-being and the conflicts these cultural pressures can cause. After outlining how therapeutic approaches can ease the pain, transform lives and begin to shift cultural norms, expectations and beliefs, Mansi asserts that having dreams, desires, and boundaries is an expression of one's wholeness, not a betrayal of others. Cultural dynamics explored include: - The expectation that women will sacrifice their personal happiness for family...
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Invisible Made Visible: Authenticity, Healing, and Impact, with Barbara Brangan
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J'aime Rothbard. Our guest, an expert grant writer for charities, social enterprises, and Indigenous organizations, shares her profound transition from a deep sense of invisibility to authentic visibility and happy invisibility. Barb also describes how integrating spiritual wisdom, trauma-informed healing and self-introspection ultimately directed her to surrender to her unique gift for impactful social justice work. Barb delves into: - Her own "happy childhood" myth, hiding the pain of her childhood medical trauma. - The value of Cosmic...
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From Wounded Warrior to Universal Illuminator, with Juliano Innocenti, PMHNP, MSN
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J'aime Rothbard. In this episode, Juliano shares his personal journey from the trauma of in utero addiction and premature birth, to being raised in the foster system, to his healing through expressive arts and Compassionate Inquiry®(CI). As a psychopharmacologist with time-limited patient prescription assessments, Juliano describes how incorporating CI practices into these sessions can help patients uncover years of hidden suffering, validate their lived experiences, question false narratives and potentially end trauma cycles He emphasizes the...
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Peace Activation Begins Within, with Eva Dalak
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. This conversation explores Eva’s transformative journey from traditional peacework to a trauma-informed, soul-centred approach. Her own experience of progressive vision loss forced her into two years of deep shadow work. In this process she identified and released unhelpful core beliefs and avoidant patterns Today, Eva believes she lost her eyesight to rediscover her true vision and destiny, through embracing her Palestinian-Israeli identity She clearly explains why: - Sustainable peace begins within us - Traditional...
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Technology & AI : Benefits & Hazards, with Sat Dharam Kaur, ND
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by J’aime Rothbard, Kevin Young and Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. Join us as we explore the overall impact of technology and AI on human attachments, relationships, dependence, skills, wellbeing and our environment. AI is examined in therapeutic contexts, along with the considerable ethical and societal concerns around its use in that capacity, and the documented damage it can inflict on vulnerable populations. Sat Dharam addresses a number of ‘hot’ tech and AI topics including the: - Potential future implications of transferring human attachment...
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Resolving Math-Anxiety Through Trauma-Informed Teaching, with Dr Bea Bleile
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard This conversation explores how academic learning is impacted by a student's emotional state, prior experiences, and the safety of the learning environment. Bea, who has been teaching in various roles since 1993, saw that traditional teaching methods fail to account for the "whole" students who enter the classrooms. This failure often results in elevated student anxiety and hindered learning: As a teacher committed to evolving current educational institutions and systems, she addresses: - The impact of negative emotions on learning...
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Elevating Consciousness & Healing Through Art & Music with Ester Martinez
The Gifts of Trauma
Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes. Produced by J’aime Rothbard. This rich conversation explores many topics, from Ester’s personal and professional journeys, to spiritual mysticism, to the parallels between experiencing ‘excellence’ in art, music and transformational trauma healing. Ester began sharing her NDEs and naming,”‘the Divine embrace” as her childhood comfort, the foundation of her healing approach and an enduring influence in her therapeutic practices. She also reflects on: - Why healing is always possible - Art and music as mediums for elevating consciousness...
info_outlineHosted by Kevin Young. Produced by J’aime Rothbard.
In this conversation, our guests forge a link between childhood trauma and the severity of menopausal symptoms. Aisling, a GP who is herself experiencing perimenopause, notes that the menopausal women who consult her often carry immense stress from being "sandwiched" between their peak career responsibilities and caring for children, grandchildren and aging parents.
Together Aisling and Rati contrast:
- "Estrogen Washing" a term Aisling coined to suggest that HRT often serves as a "wash" which may offer temporary relief but is covering deeper societal issues like capitalist demands, patriarchy, and the emotional burdens placed on women.
- Societal Silence: Despite a full 25% of the UK population being perimenopausal or menopausal, there's a significant lack of open discussion on this topic amongst women, and little to no discussion about it between menopausal women and the men in their lives.
- Negative Cultural Views of Menopause; In the west it’s often seen as an end of productivity and fertility. It’s associated with shame and unattractiveness. In Native American traditions, where older women are revered as "elders" and "wisdom keepers," menopause symptoms are often less severe.
The conversation concludes with supportive future visions for women in menopause. Rati suggests women need space, quiet, rest, and reduced workloads, along with curious, loving, and respectful listening from others. Aisling envisions women's menopausal struggles as harbingers of greater cultural challenges to come. She suggests men will take on more emotional load, and society will come to value aging women as wise, empathetic leaders.
Rati Roberta Riccardi, Somatic Therapist
After a 12-year career as a professional freelance translator in Italy, Rati started exploring. For the last two decades, she has been supporting people in expanding their consciousness and empowering them to find their inner healer/teacher through a variety of modalities.
A Compassionate Inquiry® Practitioner, Facilitator and Mentor, and a psychedelic assisted therapy preparation and integration practitioner, Rati has explored different healing traditions, including various shamanic approaches. She is trained in Mediterranean massage, Reconnective Healing and The Reconnection, Hatha Yoga, Nada Yoga, Meditation, Breathing Techniques and Intuitive Energy Work. She has studied the consciousness expanding and healing properties of sound extensively with Alexandre Tannous and facilitates group and one-on-one sound meditations.
Rati has travelled extensively, learning, studying, and guiding groups with prolonged stays in Brazil, Peru and Mexico to explore indigenous culture and traditions.
About Dr Aisling Quiery
Aisling is a Family Doctor (GP), a Compassionate Inquiry® Practitioner and a Health/Life Coach who combines her medical knowledge, her Compassionate Inquiry® training and Coaching to help people to heal through connection to their authentic selves, to the present moment, and to each other. With her support, her patients move beyond symptom management, to healing.
After training as a doctor in Scotland she worked as a GP in an economically deprived area of North Edinburgh where she also ran a community Hepatitis C clinic, a service for people who inject drugs and worked in a primary care service for people experiencing homelessness. It was through her addictions work that she first discovered the work of Gabor Maté.
Aisling attended a plant medicine retreat with Gabor and the Shipibo healers in Peru in 2019 and went on to train in Compassionate Inquiry®, a modality that changed how she sees herself, her patients and the medical model. She lives on an organic farm in County Down in the North of Ireland and works at GP practices in her local area as well as working privately with individuals and groups using Compassionate Inquiry®.
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Resources:
Websites:
Rati's Compassionate Inquiry Profile
Aisling's Professional Website
Aisling's Compassionate Inquiry Profile
Related Links
Margaret Mead
Books:
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity
Quotes:
“Mary Jane Minkin, a researcher at Yale University, found that societies where elders and wise women are revered and celebrated show far less severe menopause symptoms than societies where they are not”. - Dr Aisling Queiry
“13 million women in the UK are perimenopausal/ menopausal, that’s 25% of the population…”
- Dr Aisling Queiry
“I've just read that the Arabic word for menopause translates as, 'age of despair.'”
- Dr Aisling Quiery
“...elephants, whales and human beings are the only three mammals that have a menopausal period for the female of that species. The only reason … is that childbirth is both dangerous, makes a female vulnerable and takes up a lot of her time. So when the reproduction is taken away from a female at a certain age, it frees her up to be a wisdom keeper and a knowledge passer.” - Kevin Young
“There is no greater power in the world than the zest of a postmenopausal woman.” - Margaret Mead
“...we're pushing ourselves so hard and not valuing the aging process and not valuing the wisdom that comes with being an elder, all of that. So let's be curious about that.” - Dr Aisling Quiery
Social Media
FB: Rati: https://www.facebook.com/rriccardi
Aisling: https://www.facebook.com/DrAislingQuiery
IG: Aisling: https://www.instagram.com/draislingquiery/